A Conversation With Amber Rose About ‘SlutWalk’ And Progressive Sexuality

October kicked off in Los Angeles with The Amber Rose Slutwalk, which takes the transnational movement of protest marches that began in Toronto in 2011 and expands it into a festival. The original protest was organized when a police officer stated, “Women should avoid dressing like sluts” if they didn’t want to be sexually assaulted. Now, that lingering bit of victim blaming is just one of many that Rose’s event aims to address.

Amber Rose ascended to fame in the late 2000s as the girlfriend of Kanye West, though the former stripper was also signed with Ford models and appeared in a number of music videos at the time. After her split from West, she began dating Wiz Khalifa and the two were married from 2013 to 2014, during which time they had a son together. Now, she is paired with Atlanta rapper 21 Savage. She’s one of those odd personalities who is famous for being famous, and she’s making the most out of it. Rose has published a book, launched an emoji app, hosted a talk show, opened a clothing line, and starred on Dancing with the Stars (she came in 9th). Though, she’s not without controversy, like the time she tried to shame Kanye West by sharing his alleged kink or the time she flouted Instagram’s nudity policy to announce this year’s SlutWalk.

My Slut Walk will be about every Woman Equality issue we deal with everyday. U can walk and make signs for the issues ur passionate about. I’m in the beginning stages of putting this together but with ur help this could be an amazing liberating experience for us women. Stay tuned for more info in weeks to come. #AmberRosesSlutWalk

On the even of the 2017 walk, Amber Rose took some time to speak with us about the festival, her role in it, what healthy sexuality looks like, and what she thinks of people who are skeptical of her cause. She’s crazy honest and clearly committed to what she is doing. We’ve also included some pics from this year’s SlutWalk because people who attend do the most. There’s a performance aspect of attendance in the march and it’s worth observing and incorporating into the larger message.

SlutWalk is a movement against derogatory labels, slut shaming, victim blaming, rape culture, and double standards. What we do is we walk, we march, we protest against the inequality issues that we deal with as women. There are SlutWalks all over the world, but my SlutWalk is an all-day festival to celebrate women. We have live performances. It’s just a safe place for women to come, wear what they want, dress how they want, and talk to other people that can relate to them and what they’ve been through, and for them to know that they’re not alone. They’re not the only people that are going through these things.

Wait, while we discuss double standards, why was it accepted and applauded how she told millions of people about an ex’s bedroom preferences in an attempt to shame them or harm their image? I thought it was funny but shit, practice what you end up preaching to stay relevant since this person is clearly only interested in fame, and if you’re not talented then well, youre gonna use whatever you have i suppose